The Wait
by Miss Mag
Summary: Companion to The Well... In Kagome's POV... Three years after the well sealed and graduation has come.


**Disclaimer… I do not own these characters**

It had been three years. A long three years since the fateful day that they had ended their long battle with Naraku. Three years since the battle of her soul in the dark. Three years since she had seen Inuyasha. Graduation was today. The past three years had been one long study session for Kagome. She had to keep herself busy or else she would become overwhelmed.

Even though she missed so much school, she managed to pull herself up to the top 5% of her class. Her friends lived their lives around her. Of course, they tried to get her to go out on dates. They pushed her to go out and party. They wanted her to be happy and for some reason they just could not understand why she could not get over the loud mouth, abusive boyfriend.

They could not just understand.

Hojo had been the most understanding of them all surprisingly. He took her aside after a few months of high school and asked her to tell him what was bothering her. She started to cry and he just listened. Then he told her he understood. She shook her head. He didn't understand but he was the only one who really tried and she thanked him for it.

Days turned into weeks and weeks to months and before she knew it she was in her second year of high school.

One of her friends took to being a TV broadcaster.

One of her others wanted to become an entrepreneur.

One wanted to become a mother.

She chose to follow the path of becoming a doctor. It was the only way that felt right. She already knew more things than she needed. She could go and pick a plant of the side of the street and tell five different ways on how to use it. Though this was not an acceptable way to use medicine in today's world, she felt prepared. Hojo also chose to become a doctor.

Before she knew what had happened, Hojo became like her brother. He finally quit his chase on her, and found another.

The end of her second year of high school came sooner than the first and she grew excited for her final year.

When her last year did come, so did letters of acceptance from colleges she applied for, some from Kyoto, some nearby cities, and a few from America. Her mother and grandfather cheered every time she opened one that said yes. She soon started to feel the excitement, too. She chose a school in America. It was the furthest she could get from the memories. When graduation drew near, she grew more and more scared that the well would open and she wouldn't be there.

Kagome sat in her room and looked through the photo album she kept underneath her bed. Pictures were the only tangible thing left of her past adventures. At first, she sat and cried gripping the pictures for dear life.

She missed his golden eyes. She missed his white hair. She really, really missed rubbing his ears.

Most of all, she missed touching him. It was so unreal how much one person could make such an impression on her. She often wondered how much he missed her. She prayed he wasn't as miserable as she was. She hoped he had forgotten her and could live freely.

Then secretly, she hoped he craved for her as much as she needed to see him again.

Sometimes she dreamed that he crawled through her window and took her away.

She always woke up crying, cold and alone.

Her mother sometimes cried with her. Kagome now understood how her mother felt when she lost her husband. Kagome sat one day and told her mother everything that happened. She told her mother about the reason they looked for the jewel and of all the group's pasts. Her mother laughed and gave the advice Kagome already knew. Yes, Sango and Miroku loved each other. No, Kouga did not love her. And Kagome's favorite, no, Inuyasha would never forget her.

Graduation was coming up in one week. It was supposed to be the happiest time of every high school student's life. The students partied, and celebrated the fact that they were almost free. Most were going to be leaving this town and branching out. Most were planning long trips.

Kagome only sat calmly. When her friends invited her along for a graduation trip to Kyoto, she declined.

The day came where she walked across the stage and took her diploma. Her family cheered along with her friends. She smiled for pictures and laughed as she threw her hat into the air.

After it was all said and done, Kagome left and went home. She climbed the stairs and made her way to the great tree.

She ran her hand over the scar in the tree. This was where it had all started. It had been over four years ago since she had found him here. Her entire house held so many memories. She had already mapped out the city as to where things were such as Keade's house and the hill Kikyo was buried.

She even grew to where seeing Kikyo would have made her year. She felt insane, especially when she found a long white hair near her bed. It had been a few weeks since the well closed, so she curled up in bed the next week with the hair gripped tightly in her hand.

Thinking back to the wreak she was made her laugh now, a bitter laugh.

Once the darkness went away, and she and Inuyasha came back to her time, Kagome knew that nothing could have made her any happier than that moment. It was over, and they were together. They embraced as her family came running. Then her worst nightmare came true as he began to be dragged toward the well. His eyes seared into her soul. She knew, he knew this was it and her heart broke. Then he was gone and she collapsed. Her family was there right along with her as she repeatedly jumped into the well day and night until she could no longer walk. Sprained ankles and a broken leg finally got her to stop.

Here she was again, three years after the incident. The well taunted her. What could she do? It was the last chance she would get, and yet the disappointment would be too much. Kagome's mother surprised her when she put her arms around her.

"I don't know what to do momma." Kagome sighed.

"You know, when your father died it took me a very long time to just be able to look at one of his shirts. Every time I would see one of his shirts I would break down. I thought I would go insane. Then, one day I made myself reach down and pick up one that had fallen off the hook in the closest. It was hard, but I held that shirt and I remembered how much I loved him and came to accept that no matter how hard I wished and cried nothing was going to change. It got better."

Kagome listen silently, never taking her eyes off the well.

"Daddy was dead momma. We watched him die. We got to say goodbye. His ashes are in the little urn in the living room. I didn't get to say goodbye. I didn't get to tell him exactly how I felt. It's harder because he isn't dead. He is alive even though it is 500 years from then. I know that right now, he is probably chasing Shippo around the village and Miroku is probably reaching for Sango in an inappropriate way. All I have to do is jump in that well and they will be there… it is like being a cow looking at the field on the other side of an electric fence. It's going to hurt to try and cross it and I get no where but the grass is still there right out of my reach and there isn't a thing I can do about it… I'm only a cow."

"Kagome you're much prettier than a cow."

Kagome ran her fingers over the rotten rim of the well. She wished that she could be with Inuyasha. She would do anything to see him one more time.

Then, there it was. A small shift of energy that she knew only she could feel. She grasped the lip of the well and leaned over. Clear blue skies stared back at her.

She turned and looked back at her mother. Kagome's mother must have known what had happened.

"Go, before it closes again."

In an instant, Kagome was running to the house throwing things into her big yellow bag that she would need in the past. This time, she was packing forever and she knew it. The magic had not been strong enough to hold for a long time.

Once she was done packing, she ran back to the well. Her family was waiting for her. She gave them all hugs and they all cried. They all knew this was it.

She gave them one last look before she leaped into the dark. Once she landed, she reached up toward the clawed hand that had reached for hers.

A/N: This is the companion to The Well… in Kagome's POV just to switch things around.


End file.
